Home with Tracy

We have set up a fundraiser to help us raise money to bring Lucas home.This fundraiser is through Tastefully Simple. Tastefully Simple has a wide variety of products to stock your pantry. All of their products require two or fewer ingredients to make. They have delicious breads, soups, desserts, drinks, seasonings, dips and much more. Click here -> Tastefully Simple Once you are on their site, browse through the products. If you find something you'd like to order, set up an account and put the items in your cart. When you check out, please look up my host information which is Tracy LaRoy, State of Tennessee. When you click on search, it will show a box for you to select my name. By selecting my name, we receive a percentage of your order towards our adoption fund. Currently their regular line as well as Spring/Summer line is available. Starting August 27th, their Fall/Winter line will be available. I will have the fundraiser open until at least September ...

I was looking on Facebook the other day and I saw pictures of some old friends so I decided to take a look and see how they were doing and how much their kids have all grown. What I saw when looking at those photos made me wonder if the "church" has become desensitized. The pictures were of a bunch of boys who had an end of summer get together. These boys were all around pre-teen/teen ages. Some of the pictures were of them swimming, others were of them eating at a restaurant after a late night movie, but those were not the ones that made me question sensitivity. The pictures that made me question sensitivity were of the boys all gathered at a house. This house was bought by a local church, and is right next to where the church is located. The church is located in one of the lower income areas of the city. This house that they were gathered at is scheduled to be demolished so they decided to let the boys have fun destroying it. Seems like no big deal, right? As part o...

This year I have put in more time planning than any other year. I have struggled the past couple years with preparing for the school year due to my lack of planning. This year I wanted to be different. I wanted to start strong so my kids start strong. I did a lot of research and found the curriculum that I think best fits our family. Here is what we are studying this year. Third Grade - Bible - Who Is God? - He will be using the notebooking journal. Grammar - Easy Grammar 3 Reading - Explode the Code books as well as he will read 2 chapters minimally each day. Math - Saxon 3 History - Mystery of History I Geography - A Child's Geography Science - Exploring Creation with Astronomy - He will be using the notebooking journal. Spelling - Sequential Spelling I Second Grade - Bible - Who Is God? - She will also be using the notebooking journal. Grammar - Easy Grammar 2 Reading - Explode the Code and Reading Eggs program Math - Saxon Math 2 History - Mystery of Histor...

This homeschooling year I have taken more time to plan. It is something I struggled with doing in the past. Part of our homeschooling curriculum is Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy. I bought the text book and lab kit as well as a notebooking journal for my oldest. They also offer a junior notebook. My oldest is in third grade. My other children are in second and kindergarten. Since they are newer to reading/writing I thought the notebooking would be too much. I decided to search for something else for them. I knew I could find something that another homeschooling mom had done. Can I just tell you how much I love homeschooling mom blogs! While searching I came across the site A Journey Through Learning . Their website is full of lapbooks. They have several for the Apologia Exploring Creation curriculum. They also have the option of black and white (so your kids can color them) or full color. They each come with detailed instructions. I bought the Exploring Creation with As...

In the past few months I have been trying to shop smarter, healthier and prepare better meals for my family. I have been trying to get away from processed foods. We planted a family garden. It has been a wonderful experience for the entire family. My children, who would not touch most vegetables before, excitedly go to the garden to pick fresh veggies to eat. They each actively participated in planting. They actively participated in helping maintain the garden. They loved watching what they planted grow into food we could put on our table to eat. The beginning of this year I discovered a co-op, Bulk Natural Foods . They have several pick up spots in Tennessee. I'm not sure what other States they have pick up spots in, but you can check out their site to see if it is near you. I order organic dry beans, natural white flour, wheat flour, natural peanut butter, organic dried fruits, fresh produce from local growers. There are too many things for me to list! It is also reasonabl...